The Guardians M&M 3e Team Firestorm Thread

[Oroboros]

This is going to be the play-by-post thread for the Guardian's Team Firestorm.

[Oroboros]

Odin: "All diamond-tier Guardians, report to the situation room immediately! This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. We have located Rimilin. All diamond-tier Guardians, report to the situation room."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Tommy was in the kitchen. He liked playing team chef, and had just finished setting out his ingredients. He unconsciously flicked to the greens and golds of Summer for just a moment when the message came through. Rimilin. Rimilin and, no doubt, his buddy with his blasted illusions.

No. Calm. He's a major supervillain, a drug lord, and a threat. We find him, we take him out, we lock him up. It isn't personal.

...

Okay, maybe it was a little personal.

Tommy flew to the situation room, landing to give Odin (and anyone else who was there) a nod before taking his seat. "They interrupted me while I was cooking, Odin. These supervillains have to learn better than that, or I can't be responsible for what happens to them," he quipped, deadpan.

[Oroboros]

"Darn. Did you finish any food? At least the people who stay back at the base should have something to eat. :smallfrown:"
The situation room is a large, empty chrome chamber with seats around the edge. Two of them are significantly larger than normal, and one has a wing-shaped indent behind it. Odin settles into his hoverchair, rubbing his leg where it joined with the prosthetic.
Team Firestorm, I'm sure you will be excited to have the chance to get back at Rimilin for last time. Nobody could have predicted that he had an illusionist, as well as a copious supply of Ferromer adhesive. You will be accompanied by both Tempest and Earthquake this time around. Odin flicks a switch, and the lights in the room dim. He calls forth his power, and the room is suddenly overlayed with an illusory image of Rimilin's compound.
"Rimilin has made a mistake. One of our silver-level scout teams tailed a distribution truck back to his compound, and immediately sent us the coordinates. This will be a three-pronged assault on his base. Team Firestorm, you will be the first "wave" to arrive. Your duty will be to draw the guards and Neohuman henchmen to the front of the compound. Stay mobile, and keep them as far from the compound as they can. Be prepared for illusions, as Lightshow is still working with them. It is doubtful that Rimilin himself will be present at that little melee, as he refrains from combat whenever possible.

It will be the job of Team Tempest to infiltrate the compound and subdue Rimilin. Be warned: he is a conjurer mage of no small ability. As you all know, conjurers call forth constructs formed with an extra-dimensional matter known as ectoplasma. This ectoplasma can be shaped into any substance and form that the conjurer pleases, and is given a semblance of consciousness by the conjurer's mind. Any who have read Rimilin's file will know that he prefers to give his constructs Daemonic forms, designed to invoke fear. The constructs often possess some sort of pyromantic talent. Having fought the Guardians twice before, it is plausible that Rimilin will have specifically-designed constructs to counter your abilities. Rimilin knows that he cannot hope to defeat us in a straight battle with the forces available to him, and so he will likely attempt an escape with as much as he can take away.

The first thing to escape will be the "Core", as we have come to call it. This Core is the basis of the whole operation. We are not quite sure how it functions, but it produces the blue fluid known as "Mind's Eye" through a pump on the side. It is the central piece of the whole operation. This core is heavily defended, and possess a movable shell that can propel itself at supersonic speeds through the air through unknown methods. This core is about the size of a house, and posesses a considerable number of anti-air turrets. In addition, it is likely that the core will have guards, or even Spartan or Lightshow stationed inside. Team Earthquake, it will be your job as our mobile strike force to chase down and destroy the Core.

Brandywine, as your ships will not assist you very much in your infiltration, I recommend you leave them behind cloud cover to serve as artillery support and a possible pursuit option if Rimilin makes it out of the facility. Keep them away from the facility, as satellite images reveal additional AA turrets. Team Firestorm, you may have to remain at ground level or risk being fired upon by these same turrets.Once everybody is prepared, Warp, would you do the honors of teleporting us to ground level? Teleport Firestorm outside of the base, Tempest inside, and Earthquake close enough to intercept the Core. Are there any questions, comments, or concerns before you all deploy?.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Had only just finished chopping. Truly, Rimilin's evil knows no bounds," he replied in the same dry tone. Then, more seriously, "No questions here."

He looked to his team. "So here's what I'm thinking. We start off a good ways back from the base. Lantern, you hold that position; you've got our best range and lowest speed, plus you're shiny, so you're the flag. Open up with your Big Gun on the base itself; that should attract their attention. Draco, Aurora, we'll start off closer."

"First wave that comes up, we want to utterly demolish. Hit them with the biggest area blasts we've got. Lay waste and sow chaos. Make sure they feel the need to commit their forces fully. Then we back off. Their second response is likely to be larger and more organized. They'll see Lantern blasting the front of their base to rubble, and head after her. We wait until they've crossed a bit of distance, and then we start strafing them. Move in, blast them, move out. Hit them from different directions, maybe they'll even be dumb enough to scatter. We'll thin them out all along the way and them hammer them with the coup de gras once their forces have been weakened."

"If they turn back, we engage directly. If they get too close to Lantern, Aurora, you can whisk her out of their range. Draco, go for the biggest clusters you can hit. I'll pick off fringe units and stragglers, and deal with any of Rimilin's demons I see, since they might resist Draco's breath. Aurora, focus on key targets where you can, or spread confusion among the rank and file. Lantern, pick targets at your discretion."

"If they show up...Aurora, Spartan's your job. Lantern, play support for her in that case, Draco and I will keep the mercs occupied. If Lightshow's there, we open the way for Lantern to engage; she's the only one who can reliably ignore his illusions. If he has other metas...well we'll have to adapt to that as we go."

"That sound okay to everyone?" That last question was to the group at large, but he couldn't help but focus his attention on Aurora as he asked the question. She had done this way, way more often than he had, and it wasn't like he had led them to glorious victory last time. (To be fair, his plan last time was basically, "Four on three? Please, we've got this.")

[CandyLaser]

Aurora listened calmly to Odin's briefing. This wasn't her first rodeo. She'd done a literal rodeo once, as a PR thing - putting in an appearance for the fans in Texas. Today's excursion promised to be much more fun. This time, she had a better idea what to expect from Spartan and Lightshow, although she cautioned herself against getting overconfident. After all, she was pretty sure that they had Rimilin last time, and he had Lightshow in his back pocket; he almost certainly had a surprise ready this time.

She listened to Solstice's plan, as well, and when he was done she added, "Sounds good, Solstice. Everyone, try to stay within a few miles of me. If you get in over your head I'll be there. Listen for chatter from Tempest and Earthquake, too. If Rimilin makes a run for it, we need to be ready to move."

Having said her piece, she looks to Warp. The teleport wasn't really necessary - she could be on Earth in the blink of an eye herself - but standing with the team was important.

[Oroboros]

If everyone has agreed on a course of action, we should strike. Remember, time is on Rimilin's side. The more forewarning he has, the more time he has to conjure and escape. Warp, if you would do the honors? Remember, Firestorm first, then Earthquake, and then teleport onto the roof of the compound with Tempest. A last bit of advice for tempest: if you could disable the anti-air turrets when you are on the rooftop, it would ease the jobs of the other teams immensely. May the winds of fortune be with you.

[Saidoro]

I'm on a team with Aurora!
The thought seemed to be running through Lantern's head in what would in a more normal person be a continuous loop, recurring several thousand times per second.
"Alright. I mean, I can do my own whisking if it comes to that."
Lantern shifted over to stand next to Warp. She could get there herself in a thousandth of a second, but if Aurora was heading down this way, so would she.

[CandyLaser]

Aurora joins Lantern at Warp's side. Before the teleporter did his thing, she spoke to the assembled Guardians. "We're on different teams - but let's not forget that we're on the same team, too. If anyone needs backup, sing out. Now let's go show Rimilin why we're the best."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Oh, excellent! Even better," Tommy said, making a mental note that Lantern was teleport-capable. He headed over towards Warp, requesting, "Can you drop us off a bit of a ways from the base itself? A few miles should do fine. And when you teleport your team in, you might want to avoid the front; we're going to be hitting it and trying to draw the guards that way. I can make no promises regarding its structural integrity."

[Volthawk]

Warp nods, finishing his food before disappearing for a few seconds, returning to the same spot, empty-handed and with his mask on. "Alright, alright. I get the hint. Time to get going. The usual, guys, all in your teams and touching each other however you're happy to." He notices that Firestorm is already next to him, and after a second's consideration makes the needed contact with a hug around Lantern, depositing the team a few miles away from the base. A few seconds later, once he's ready to teleport, he leaves with a chuckle, ready for the next deployment. Firestorm's nice enough, and Lantern seems like someone who's gonna be fun to mess with.

[Oroboros]

You find yourselves in a dense forest, surrounded by chirps and croaks. The humid night air hangs around you like a shroud. The entrance to the compound stands in front of you, past about twenty feet of thick foliage. A wide chrome door is protected by two patrolling teams of two guards. The four guards are carrying sleek, glowing guns, covered in readouts and knobs. You can't identify the model, which almost certainly means that they are high-tech Neohuman work. What do you do?

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Thanks, Warp," Tommy said as the teleporter dropped them off. "Alright. Three of us'll get into position. Lantern, give us a bit of a lead, then go ahead and start blasting the base. Aurora, Draco, we want to neutralize those guard patrols with extreme force. Everyone good to go?"

If there weren't any questions/concerns/whatever, Solstice would take to the air, and fly at speed for the base - but keeping within a few feet of the ground, so as not to draw fire from their anti-air defenses.

Tommy's default active power is Annum Knight (he's in autumn "mode", but Autumn Knight isn't the active power; Annum Knight just covers all four seasons), so his vision currently Counters All Concealment. He wouldn't be able to ignore illusions, but if anything's invisible or hidden, he should be able to see that.

[Saidoro]

Lantern gives her teammates about twenty seconds to place themselves before she begins to glow and rises a few feet into the air.
She extends her arms outwards and a massive ray of searingly bright light extends from her arms to strike the door.
Making an attack with the "focus fire" version of the power. Using Power Attack and All-Out Attack maneuvers to give -5 to active defences and +5 to damage for 1 round and making the attack roll as a routine check to hit the door automatically. Damage DC for the door is 40.

[Oroboros]

The door rolls a 19... So it only gets a hole punched in it. There is a brilliant flash of light, and the guards duck for cover. When the light fades, a massive hole is burned in the door. One of the guards pulls a lever on the outside of the compound, and sirens begin to blare from inside.

[CandyLaser]

Once the alarms start blaring, Aurora makes her move. Her eyes glow with a crisp white light as she scans the area, looking through the trees and walls as if they weren't even there. In particular, she looks for the guards and their guns, scanning the interior of each device to ensure it doesn't contain any radioactive elements.

Her vision has Penetrates Concealment, and she can see basically the entire EM spectrum out to 10K feet before there's any penalties on Perception.

What she does next depends on what she saw.


[spoiler=If there's no radioactive elements, and no other obvious threat leaps out at her]The glow in her eyes intensifies as Aurora rises above the ground. A pale light, like the first glimmerings of dawn, emanates from her - and then two brilliant beams streak from her eyes, toward the nearest guard. At the last moment, though, the beams suddenly change course, angling down sharply and striking their gun.

(OOC: Eye Beams, damage 13 with perception range).
Aurora takes flight. There's a boom as she breaks the sound barrier, heading right for the guards. She doesn't slow as she zooms past the nearest guard, reaching out as she goes to snatch the gun from their hand.

(OOC: Disarm, and using all-out attack and power attack for 3 each. If it's a minion, I'll make a routine attack check, getting an 18 (10, +10 for my attack bonus, -2 for disarm). If not: [roll0]. If that hits, then it's opposed Strength checks: [roll1].
(OOC: Aurora will deal with a bigger threat if she spots one, but what she does will depend on the nature of the threat/spoiler]

[Oroboros]

Aurora peers into the guns. As she examines the area, she notices that Rimilin has prepared for her vision: the inside of the compound contains of radioactive materials. She can't sense any radioactive material in the guns, but their interior mechanisms look highly advanced. Better safe than sorry. She dashes forward, effortlessly disarming the guards.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Solstice swooped in as Lantern began her assault, flying for as central a position among the guards as he could. "Sorry, guys," he said dryly, before thrusting his arms to either side. A blast of hurricane-force winds erupted from him, battering and buffeting the guards.

After the initial force died down, though, the winds around him still whipped about in a gale. They swirled lightly around his allies, but hostiles would find an approach impeded by the high winds, and the dust and leaves they kicked up would make it that much harder to see.

Move: Flying into a central position among the guards.

Standard: Attack with Annum Knight. All enemies in 30' get a DC 22 Dodge save for half effect, followed by a DC 27/21 Toughness save vs. Damage. The Linked Environment is Impede Movement and Visibility, so all enemies have their Speed Ranks reduced by 2 and any Perception checks reduced by 5 within 120' of Solstice. Both effects are Selective, applying only to foes.

[Oroboros]

The guards are blown to either side, tumbling in the wind. The air churns around you, throwing dust up towards the sky.

[Belkar Disciple]

Draco had been enjoying soaking his scales in the pool when the alarm sounded. He sighed and Climbed out, shaking the steaming water from his body before hurrying to SitRo* and listening carefully to the plans and explanations. Soon he grinned toothily and felt the fire building inside him.

"Time to let loose again, huh? Glad it's that glorified druggie too." He growls almost happily. Eagerly.

It wasn't until they got dropped off and the words "extreme force" are spoken to him that he makes a sound again, roaring as he surges towards on of the bigger clusters of guards the winds knocked down and breathed dark red flames over them.

Move action to fly towards them as close as possible before subjecting the guards to a DC 20 reflex save fire breath weapon

[Oroboros]

The (poor) guards have all been thoroughly incapacitated by what appeared to them as a flaming tornado. The entrance to the compound looms ahead, the edges of the hole still glowing with heat and residual energy.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Nice, guys," Solstice said with a grin, turning his attention to the door. He didn't approach too close, but he peered into the hole and listened intently to try and get an early warning of the approach of any more foes.

Perception: [roll0]. Both looking and listening, but note that vision is Extended (10X normal range) and Counters All Concealment (can't see through objects, but can ignore stuff like fog, darkness, invisibility, and the like).

[Starsign]

Looking down the hallway, Sharkguard notices a small person looking into the doorway inside. He leans over and squints his eyes like any pirate on lookout as he tries to make out the figure. He then widens his eyes out as his classic smile shines out. He should have figured a fellow superhero would be the only thing that would trek carefully into a base; no Guardian is as invincible as the shark-man after all.

He waves over to Solstice, gleeful over meeting up with Team Earthquake so quickly. Sharkguard bellows out towards the hero. "Ahoy matey! Found me that land-lubbin' Rimilin!" The giant bruiser couldn't be any happier; he may be able to fight and take down both the conjurer and the Core at the same time! That'll certainly make up for not being shot out of the Neverland as an awesome dynamic entry.

[CandyLaser]

"Have you seen Lightshow or Spartan? Have you seen the Core?" Aurora asked Sharkguard. She was all business; with the nearby guards dispatched, the next objective was to make a scene. Aurora rose higher into the air, her glow intensifying, doing her best to draw attention to herself - and if the sight of a flying, glowing woman wasn't enough, she also unleashed a powerful blast against the wall of the compound. An eye-searingly brilliant white beam shot from her outstretched hand, striking home with phenomenal force.

Let's say Aurora's 200 ft up, well above the trees. The attack will be a starlight beam. Normally it's effect rank 14, but she'll power attack for 5 and all-out attack for 3. Since the compound is inanimate, any rolled attack that hits is an automatic crit: [roll0]. If that's a hit, the total effect rank is 24; that's a DC 39 Toughness save.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"I should warn you, if everything goes according to plan, you might be standing in the path of a horde of enemies heading in this direction!" Solstice called to Sharkguard. He waited a beat, and then quipped, "So, you know, if you could leave us, like, one or two, we'd appreciate it!"

[Belkar Disciple]

Draco moved into the building and looked around while the other chatted, all his legs tense and ready to jump if he spies anything that shouldn't be there.


[roll0]

[Oroboros]

Sharkguard approaches Draco, holding his hand out. Suddenly, he explodes into motion, leaping toward Draco. As the illusion shimmers off of Spartan's body, he brings his sword down on Draco's head with both of his hands and a resounding crack.


He is power attacking for a +11 to hit and a +13 to the save.
[roll0]
If that hits Draco, make a DC 28 Toughness check.

Edit: Ooh, that was a crit. Ouch. DC 33 then. Sorry

[Belkar Disciple]

[roll0]
[roll1]

The blade hits Draco squarely on his head, the blade slicing through his scales and making him roar in agony and rage.

[Oroboros]

Everybody roll for initiative!
For future reference, Draco, your Defense Class vs an attack is not 1d20 + your parry/dodge, it is just 10 + parry/dodge

[Saidoro]

Initiative: [roll0]

[CandyLaser]

[roll0]

Now that combat's started, Aurora's going to be using her Interpose advantage regularly. Here are her priorities:
1) Interpose to protect civilians, if any
2) Interpose against crits on allies
3) Protect downed/stunned allies
4) Protect people vulnerable to the attack form (e.g. protect Draco against sword attacks)
5) Protect the most damaged ally

[Belkar Disciple]

Initiative: [roll0] The dice want me dead (o.o)

[Oroboros]

Dozens of Spartans all jump in different directions from where the original one stood. They take up different fighting stances from all around the hallway, brandishing their broadswords menacingly.


21 - Lightshow
19 - Solstice
17 - Spartan
12 - Draco
12 - Lantern
8 - Aurora
DC 18 insight check to identify the true Spartan, Lantern automatically passes.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Blasted illusions!" Tommy snarled when "Sharkguard" changed into Spartan. "Lantern, get in here!" Flame-blast but he hated Lightshow. He swept his gaze over the area; he couldn't distinguish any difference between the false images of Spartan and the real one, but whatever fairy magic empowered him had always proven wonderfully effective against invisibility.

If he could perceive the illusionist, he'd shout his rough location to the team, but for now there wasn't time to engage. Draco was hurt, badly. Tommy's hair went blond, his wings pale green, his clothes taking on the pastel hues of Spring. Gentle light began to shine from his skin, and a sturdy morningstar appeared in his hand. When he spoke, the frustrated anger had left his voice entirely, leaving only amused confidence. "Nice play, Lightshow! Really, beautifully executed! There are just two problems with your plan. One: we know you exist this time. Two: it accomplished absolutely nothing!" He advanced to stand shoulder to shoulder with Draco, setting a hand on the dragon's head. For a moment, Draco would feel the gentle warmth of spring sunlight where there had been pain, catch the scent of blooming flowers on a soft breeze. When Tommy removed his hand, the injury, while not entirely gone, was substantially closed.

Free Action: If he can see Lightshow, alert allies to his position.

Free Action: Swap to Vernal Knight. Tommy's Dodge and Parry are reduced to 8, and his Toughness increased to 16 and rendered Impervious.

Move Action: Move adjacent to Draco.

Standard Action: Convert to another move action and use the Healing power of Vernal Knight on Draco. It beats the DC 10 check even on a 1 and is Limited to one degree, so no point in rolling. Draco's worst damage condition (Staggered) is removed, leaving him with one Bruise.

Current Status: Normal.

[Oroboros]

A voice comes from one of the Spartans

"You know, that attack was ART. I may have to make my next work in a less... curable medium."
With that, the cadre of illusions leap forwards at Solstice, slashing with their blades. One attack is much less insubstantial than all of the others.

I accidentally previewed the post, which screwed up the dice roller, so I have to use a RL die for this. Sorry :P
1d20 + 11 = 20
Spartan power attacks, then shuffles himself around with the illusions. DC 28

[Belkar Disciple]

"BURN! The dragon roars after his head clears (somewhat) of the pain from his injury. He rears up and unleashes his fiery breath on the hallway in front of him, hoping to destroy the illusions and reveal the real Spartan.

Fire Breath, DC 19, Fire Damage 9, 60ft cone

[Oroboros]

[roll0]

Bruised, assuming you meant DC 24 (you add +15 to attacks)
The flame washes in and around the illusions. They all stumble out of it, but only one actually disrupts the flow. He shouts out in pain and shields his face with his blade.

[Saidoro]

On seeing what appears to be a fight, Lantern shifts through the hole in the door and quickly assesses the situation. She waves her arm and a storm of golden lances launch out towards Spartan.

Using the primary power of Laser blast, 30 ft radius cylinder targetting all actual enemies(Not the illusions unless they're hiding something) withing with a damage 10 attack(No saving throw for half first).

[CandyLaser]

And once Lantern and Draco have made their attacks - and in so doing, revealed the true Spartan - Aurora streaks in, a blur of white light. Paying no heed to personal defense, she takes a swing at the Spartan who disrupted the fire.

All-out attack for 5. And because I want it to stick, power attack for 3. [roll0]

[Oroboros]

vs Lantern:[roll0]
vs Aurora:[roll1]


Spartan turns and braces himself against Lantern's attack. He swats aside the lance with contemptuous ease. The his smug grin doesn't even have time fade from his face before he is brutally pounded into the ground by Aurora. When the dust clears, Spartan lays motionless at the bottom of a crater in the floor.

[Oroboros]

The sound of fleeing footsteps can be heard at the end of the hallway, although Lightshow is invisible to the naked eye.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Solstice, weighed down by the power of Earth, couldn't hope to avoid Spartan's blow. But with that weight came strength; he barely felt the blow.

Solstice gave a slender smirk as Spartan went down. "Yeah, it's a whole 'nother ball game when you don't have mercs and demons running interference for you, now isn't it?" he taunted the fallen warrior. Hearing the footsteps, his first instinct was to go after them, get reasonably close, and fill the entire area with fire or something. But he forced himself not to.

No. It was, technically, possible that Lightshow possessed an invisibility power strong enough to deceive even his fey-enhanced senses, even Lantern's luminous gaze. But it was improbable. Neither he nor Lantern, best he knew, could see through solid objects. Far more likely that Lightshow had some means of projecting his senses from another location, and weaving illusions at a distance. The footsteps were a trick, he was certain, another illusion intended to lure them into a prepared ambush, meant to make them overconfident in Lantern's ability to see through illusions by relying on one with a strictly auditory element.

"We advance together and with caution," he told his team, taking a moment to finish healing Draco before starting forward.

Move: Finish healing Draco.

Standard: Convert to another move action to begin advancing, although if the rest of the team isn't ready to advance, he'll wait for them.

Current Status: 1 Bruise.

[Saidoro]

Lantern points at a seemingly empty point in the air and launches a flurry of bolts towards it.

Using Bolts with All-out Attack for 5 and power attack for 1. Base damage value is 11, crit range is 16-20 and it's a multiattack.
[roll0]

[Oroboros]

With a flash and a sudden warping, Lightshows body flops to the ground, unconscious.

Don't know why I'm even rolling. Lightshow has human toughness, so a natural 20 still leaves him with 4 degrees of failure. :smallbiggrin:
[roll0]
Edit. OUCH! 7 degrees of ouch. Solstice, you may want to keep this guy from dying.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Solstice stops, eyes the fallen illusionist, glances at Lantern, then back at Lightshow. "Okay. That works too," he said with a bemused laugh.

"What do you think all? Should we hold position here and see what comes, or keep moving and just wipe out whatever enemy forces we encounter until someone tells us to stop?" he asked, the confidence of Spring only heightened by the team's successes so far.

[CandyLaser]

"I'm going to check in with the others. See if anyone needs backup. Solstice - you should secure Spartan. Lock him down, in case he wakes back up."

[Belkar Disciple]

Draco clawed at the floor briefly, wanting to end the swordsman right then and there for what he'd done, but years of training and discipline allowed him to quell his fear. So he used his claws on Sparten's sword instead of Spartan's head.

[roll0] DC 23

[Quellian-dyrae]

Tommy nodded. He was a little unsure about splitting up, but any niggling concerns were answered by Spring confidence. "Sounds good. Let me know if there's any beat-downs left to dispense," he said with a grin, before going to drag Lightshow over into the crater by Spartan. He'd heal the injury he had taken, and then switch back to Autumn, leveling his bow on the two with a pair of arrows nocked, drawing a bead on them from point-blank range, in case they awoke and got uppity.

[CandyLaser]

"Solstice, you might want to give these two a little taste of Winter. Some icy bonds will help in case they wake up." Aurora flew up next, going right through the roof, and scanned the area. The radioactive compounds she noticed before would cause some trouble, but she could scan in other wavelengths. There had been a gamma flash not too long ago, and she was worried about what that might portend.

Over the commlink, she said, "This is Aurora to all points. Spartan and Lightshow are down. No other metahuman support noted. Anyone need a hand?"

Perception: [roll0]

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Tammy's the one who can make the giant ice cubes," Tommy replied. "Unless you want me to stab them some more, of course. Which I'm not saying I couldn't be talked into, mind."

Tommy's Winter Affliction gets Linked to Weapons Master; he can't use it independently of physical attack without investing more energy than he thinks is practical to spend (i.e. a power stunt) when a well-aimed arrow works almost as well.

By the way, just so it's mechanically specified, he's staying in Close range of the two and taking an Aim action each round.

[Volthawk]

Warp responds pretty quickly. "Looks like we got Rimilin, gonna get him to containment unless there are any complaints." This next bit is directed to the people in the station. "Any problems up there with me bringing him in now? Got some improvised constraints here but something more beefy would be nice."

[Quellian-dyrae]

At Warp's response, Tommy answers, "We're holding Spartan and Lightshow near the main entrance if you want to pop over and bring them along to holding."

[Oroboros]

I rolled, and your claws didn't break the sword. However, you could just
"take 20", so to speak, so in order to avoid drawing out the thread unnessecarily, I am just going to have the sword break right now.

Draco: The sword proves annoyingly resilient, but after a succumbs after a few more swipes, shattering into pieces.

[Volthawk]

"Gotcha Odin, Solstice. Will get them too. So they proved easier than last time, huh?" Warp appears in the main entrance, waving at everyone as he first pops over to Spartan, brings him over to Lightshow, and piles them up before disappearing with the pile.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Yeah. Not having the mage and summons and mercs running interference makes a difference. Who'd have thought?" Solstice replied dryly. After Warp vanished, he looked to Draco and Lantern. "Seems like things are pretty well in hand. Nicely done, guys. How about we head up to the roof? If there's any defenses left up there we can disable them, and then we - by which I of course mean Lantern - can keep watch in case someone slips by the others and tries to escape," he suggested, tossing Lantern a slender grin.

Unless they had any objections, he'd head back outside and fly up to the roof, ready for any sudden fire from their anti-air defenses.

Solstice is in Autumn Knight mode, and he's taking Defend actions as he flies up.

[CandyLaser]

Aurora was already airborne, scanning the horizon for threats. The only major objective left, as far as she knew, was to take the Core - so that's what she was looking for. Any other defenses were secondary targets.

[Oroboros]

Aurora
With her vision being blocked by radioactive materials in the walls of the compound, you are forced to manually navigate to where Touch is claiming to have found the Core. Despite this, you successfully locate it and arrive next to Touch and Tempo within seconds.

[Belkar Disciple]

Scattering the shards of the sword with his tail as he turns, Draco nods at the suggestion to go out to the roof and walks out quickly, climbing up to the roof carefully. "I'm really starting to hate these villains. Not only are they evil, but they can't even put a decent fight. Should we destroy the guns up here too?"

[Quellian-dyrae]

"If no one else has already? Probably wouldn't hurt."

[Volthawk]

Warp comes for Firestorm last, getting them all together on the roof and having one last look around. "Kinda nice around here, as locations for evil bases go. Last chance for a souvenir trip before I get you guys with everyone else. Maybe some food after that. Hrm." Once that last chance is done, he brings them back onto the Sentinel, with the others.

[Quellian-dyrae]

He wasn't particularly interested in a souvenir (eh, he considered going back to grab a piece of Spartan's broken sword, but decided he didn't really care enough), so just stood ready until the others had confirmed that they were good to go.

[CandyLaser]

"I'll go on my own, Warp - I'll see you back on the station." Aurora declines Warp's offer of transit, instead taking flight under her own power. Once she gets high enough to be able to do so safely, she pours on the speed, breaking the sound barrier, then hitting escape velocity. She's a glowing white streak blazing out of the atmosphere. The wind rushes past her, and then - silence, as she breaks out into space. Her destination is the station, as promised, but sometimes she just needs to get there under her own power. And for all of that she arrives only a few seconds after the rest of the team arrives, teleported by Warp.

[Belkar Disciple]

"I'm going to have a scar until I eat a cow, so I'm going to count that as my souvenir." The dragon grumbles, rubbing his snout.

"Thanks for the ride back, Warp."

[CandyLaser]

It took some getting used to, remembering that Draco was being literal when he said he was going to eat a cow. "Solstice is cooking - I don't think there where be a whole cow there, but perhaps you'll join us? Call it an appe

[Belkar Disciple]

"well... I suppose I could enjoy a home-cooked meal. Do you think the other teams are done yet? I haven't seen that sphere thing."

[Quellian-dyrae]

As Warp vanished, Tommy started scanning the skies, keeping an eye out for the approaching transport. The wind was already starting to pick up around him as he began gathering the powers of Autumn to his command.

"I should be able to slow it down some, but moving enough air to have a shot at stopping it outright would take a lot of energy, so I'm figuring trying that would be a secondary option," he said.

Tommy currently has Annum Knight active, so his vision is Extended (and Counters All Concealment; no cloud cover for them!)

[Oroboros]

Odin opens a line to your commlinks.
"Aurora, your enhanced senses should be able to easily pick out the transport. You need to carry the pod to about a mile above it, where the clouds should conceal you from their sight. Then, you need to very carefully make sure that you are flying in the same direction and at the exact same speed. Once you do, give everyone the signal to engage. "

Aurora needs to make a perception check to attempt to match velocities with the transport. If you can make a convincing argument as to why you can use another skill, such as athletics, and I accept it, go ahead and use that instead.

[CandyLaser]

"Brace yourself, Warp. Accelerating in 3... 2... 1..." Aurora takes to the air, a glowing blur toting a streamlined pod in both hands. She took a moment to get up to speed, so as not to harm her cargo - a teleporter with whiplash benefits no one. The transport was indeed easy to spot, off in the distance, and she streaked off toward it, circling around until she could shadow it from above.

Rolling Perception: [roll0] I might us a HP here; it depends on my roll.

[Volthawk]

Warp looks out from the pod, focusing on figuring out when it's safe to go. Once he judges the right time, well it's simplicity itself to get himself over there. Not even one of those nasty dazing long ones either, just a nice short (for him) jump and then he's on the ship. This whole matching velocity thing was pretty new to him, but it was far more intuitive than he would've guessed. Suppose that's what happens when you grow up with your powers and use them as a part of daily life - trying new things is easy. But that trail of thought needs to be pushed back now the game is on, and given that he's just popped up in the middle of the thing, there'd be some drama incoming. This means that when he arrives he is at full alert, quickly refocusing his powers for defence and readying himself for the reaction of whoever he appeared in front of. For the comms, there's just a brief "I'm there now. Time to get this started.", while he lets anyone inside the transport talk first.


Since this is a non-extended teleport, it's a move action, so I'll then switch the array to the Deflect power and use that as my standard. Makes my Dodge/Parry 27 (see roll in OOC), and with Reflect/Redirect, if I get attacked and they miss as a free action I can redirect the attack at anyone in range as a new attack using my attack roll.

[Oroboros]

Twelve mercenaries react with utter shock at the appearance of a young boy in the middle of their transport. One of them, a grizzled veteran with a rough grey beard, reacts much more quickly than the others. Warp recognizes him as Wolf, leader of the Foxhound mercenaries. Even as the other troops are fumbling at their restraints, reaching for the weapons at their sides, he has already stood up and is aiming a large rifle at Warp, calling out orders to his men.

"We have a breach, repeat, we have a breach. One DT Guardian identified, Warp, backup likely. Engage mover-10 protocols. Young man, I suggest that you remain still if you value the current location of your throat. One move, and I WILL shoot. Don't think that I'm not ready for any of your teleporting either.

[Volthawk]

Warp looks around, assesses the situation, then shrugs. "So I'm guessing by the gun pointed at me that you won't be surrendering today. Pity. Still, nice to know that I have a fancy target designation and everything. DT Guardian...Detachment Tempest, I'm guessing? Guess that shows you're military...still, I guess really there's one real question. You really think you can capture me?" Part of this is delaying so that the others get here and dynamic entry their way into this situation (no fair for Warp to have all the fun), part is wanting to get a measure of Wolf, and part is just having fun with the situation.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"I suppose slowing them down is no longer necessary," Tommy said dryly to Calliope, before winging towards the transport.

He'd throw wind in its face anyway, just to make what he was doing a bit easier, but then he'd fly in front of its windshield, clearly visible to the pilot, summon up a giant hammer, point at the windshield, shake the hammer, and raise one eyebrow.

Hopefully his intent was clear.

Turning on my Environment, dropping an Impede Movement 2 (Selective on the transport) within 120' of Tommy. That'll lower its Speed Rank by 2 straight up.

Tommy can fly at rank 12, hopefully that's enough to keep ahead of the thing. I'll Routine the Perception check to kinda match velocities with it. I don't need to match it exactly, just close enough to A) Stay within 120' and B) allow the pilot to clearly see me without getting bowled over.

Then, Intimidation to try and coerce the pilot into landing under threat of giant hammer at [roll0]. A DC 26 Will save reduces the Intimidation result by 16.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't Aurora also be inside the transport with Warp?

And if any part of that entire plan is obviously infeasible (for example, the transport doesn't have a windshield or something) let me know.

[CandyLaser]

After Warp left the pod, Aurora cast it aside. It had served its purpose, and if Warp needed to teleport out trying to hit the pod would be difficult. He'd be better off just teleporting out and letting Aurora or Solstice make the catch. And once she was unencumbered, she put on more speed, circling around the plane and looking for a point of entry. When she found one, she knocked - hard. The metal dented and the boom of the impact resounded through the transport.

Over the comms, she told Warp: "You may want to warn your new friends - I'm about to come in."

Not trying to damage the transport, just making her presence known. She'd rip the door off, but there might be someone standing by it, and then she'd have to go catch them.

[Kymme]

~Indeed.~ Calliope responded mentally, before exploding into motion. She ran through the sky towards the rear of the transport, staying beneath its tail to remain out of sight. She was unsure if the craft had a tail gunner (or any kind of exterior weapons) and she wasn't going to risk anything. She steeled herself to dive down and catch anyone who might fall.

Calliope is readying her action to catch anybody who falls out of the ship.

[Oroboros]

Wolf calmly looks over at the dent in the side of the ship, to Solstice flying in front, and then back at Warp. He walks over to a red lever and pulls a pack off of the wall, strapping it to his back. Before anyone in the plane can react, he pulls the lever and jumps out of the transport, firing up the jetpack to put as much distance between himself and the transport as possible.

The pilot stares in shock at the winged man brandishing a massive hammer in front of the windshield. As quickly as he can, he slows the transport to a stop, bringing it to a hover over the water.

Will save to reduce DC [roll0]
Will save to resist being intimidated [roll1]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Solstice gave the pilot a firm look and a solid thumbs up, but then his gaze darted to Wolf as he pulled the level and fled the transport. Aurora was a faster flier than him; he'd leave the criminal's inevitable capture to her. Red levers coupled with immediate escapes screamed "self destruct" to him.

A tech wiz Solstice was not. But he'd watched enough television to know that the bomb guys sometimes froze the bomb with liquid nitrogen to prevent it from detonating.

Interesting trivia fact?

The raw mystical essence of the season of Winter? A fair sight colder than liquid nitrogen.

Solstice's colors shifted to whites and blues as he covered the transport in ice and snow.

Standard: Going to try to use Annum Knight's Damage power as a Counter against a presumed explosive. Pretty sure Countering is in lieu of normal power function, but in any case it's Selective so it won't cause any actual harm. Power Rank check: [roll0].

[Oroboros]

The craft crashes down a few feet to float on the water, like some oversized ice cube. Solstice still doesn't know whether or not there was actually a bomb, but at least nothing exploded. The mercenaries still struggling to get out of their seats and have their weapons ready are now further hampered by frigid ice covering the floor and holsters.

[Kymme]

Calliope spots Wolf and attempts to contact him mentally. ~Come quietly, mercenary. Don't make us have to chase you.~

Then she dashes through the air, soaring out to run side by side with the jetpack-piloting man.

[CandyLaser]

Solstice seemed to have things covered on board the ship - whatever reason Wolf had to leave was, as far as she was concerned, reason enough to go after him. She darted after him and flew in close enough for her to hear. "Stand down," she commanded. "Unless you want to try your luck without that jetpack." She readied herself - if Wolf kept trying to escape, she was going to try to stop him more directly.

Readying an action to attempt to grapple Wolf unless he stops.

[Volthawk]

Warp looks around at the job the others have done, and grins. "Nice one, guys." He pops in front of the mercenary closest to getting out and taps the guy, hitting them with the offensive form of his power. Even if he doesn't get them anywhere, it should give the guy second thoughts about getting up and ready.


Switching to the attack power of my array, then teleporting and attacking. Dunno if they count as having any special conditions, so I'm just gonna roll the dice and see what happens.

Attack: [roll0]

If it hits, then that's...
DC 24 Will save against teleportation (if they fail, I'l get them to...hrm. If there's any island or the like nearby (within 120 miles) that I could've seen/otherwise been to or known about before popping inside the ship, I'll take them there. Otherwise, I dunno. I guess I'll pop the outside for a bit of a fall - say, a 250ft drop to make another Damage 10 effect.
DC 29 Toughness against damage (works as normal)
DC 24 Fortitude against Affliction (Dazed at 1 degree, stunned at 2 degree, incapacitated at 3+ degrees)

[Oroboros]

Wolf looks back and forth at Calliope and Aurora, then sighs and lifts his hands in the air in surrender, hovering on his jetpack.



Will: [roll0]
Fortitude: [roll1]
Toughness: [roll2]

As Warp touches the guard, he visualizes a nice tropical island to the northeast. The mercenary flops down there a second later, groaning and clutching his stomach.

[Volthawk]

Warp grins. So that's still working fine. He looks around for the next guy most likely to get up and attack, and did the same there. "Look guys, if you just sit still, play nice and don't try to attack us, I don't have to keep doing this."

Same again, but may as well do an all advantage-less all-out + power attack for -2 defence/+2 effect rank.
Attack: [roll0]

If it hits:
DC 26 Will save against teleportation (if possible to a different island, if not to the same)
DC 31 Toughness against damage (works as normal)
DC 26 Fortitude against Affliction (Dazed at 1 degree, stunned at 2 degree, incapacitated at 3+ degree)

[Quellian-dyrae]

Solstice flew in through whatever escape hatch Wolf had exited by. If it was already closed again, he'd shift to Summer and try to carve his way in through the transport's roof, now that he didn't have to worry about anyone being hurled out at high speeds.

"Weapons down and hands up, fellas. Unless you want to see if all that Neohuman fighting training really holds up against two Diamond-tier Guardians."

He leaned towards Warp and fake whispered (still plenty loud enough for the soldiers to hear), "Spoiler alert: it doesn't!"

If I need to chop into the place, All Out Power Attack for 5 at [roll0]. The transport roof will have to make a DC 37 Toughness save due to auto-crit against inanimate objects vs. Damage Object, and if it fails to beat DC 32, it will also lose 1 Toughness per point failed by. It will then have to save again against the Damage (but not the Weaken) next round as a Secondary Effect.

Intimidation to try to coerce these guys into surrendering: [roll1]. A DC 26 Will save lowers the result by 16.

[CandyLaser]

"Wolf has surrendered," Aurora reported over the comms. "Warp, I'm going to bring him to you for transport." She turned her attention to Wolf, looking him over with her enhanced vision. Her eyes glowed brightly as she scanned him, looking for concealed weapons or devices. "Drop your weapons, Wolf, and come along peacefully. I'll guarantee your safety."

Rolling Perception: [roll0] to look for weapons.

[Oroboros]

The soldiers, upon hearing of their leader's surrender, all agree to peacefully accompany Wolf to the Sentinel. A few quick teleports later, and everyone is back in the space station, with the Guardians conferring in a room adjacent to the now-occupied prison cells. Odin now addresses the Guardians on their situation.

"Alright. Remember, we captured these mercenaries so that we could find out who Rimilin was working for, or with. The question now is how do we go about interrogating them? I have already heard some ideas, but I would like to hear from everyone before moving forward."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"What are the ideas on the table so far?" Solstice asked. "And is there any probability at all that the mercs themselves know anything useful? I assume Wolf would know the most of course, but he'd likely also be more difficult to manipulate, and honestly, I'd be less inclined to make him a favorable offer."

[Kymme]

"Kill one." Calliope still wears her mask, and her face is impossible to read. "Single one mercenary out and end his life. Take his body away, make them tell us everything we need to know. Then I bring the man back to life, and we return him to his comrades. No harm, no foul."

The silence is palpable.

"It would work."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Solstice gave a kinda nervous laugh, brushing his hair back absently. "Wow. Okay, that um...you are joking, right? I still have some trouble telling when you're joking. It's the mask that does it, I think."

[Starsign]

"She ain't joking," the shark-man says plainly while looking about as unimpressed as a boisterous brute can be. "I've worked with her enough that she'd be willing to do it. She can be pretty pragmatic." Sharkguard leans over with a small grin to whisper loudly to Solstice. "Just ask her what sort of things she's capable of when she and I work together. You'd be surprised at what she can do to an indestructible god." Sharkguard leaves that there, not commenting further and letting the younger Guardian's mind to wonder what the shark-man had meant.

"But I'm not like a monster who thinks that's the best idea. Besides a honorable god doesn't like to kill or fight someone that can't hit back. If we're gonna interrogate, I ought to do it without any sort of physical force." He looks over to Odin. "How about that plan I suggested Odin? We got interrupted after I gave my suggestion." Sharkguard gives his toothy smile once again, attempting to hide how out-of-place he feels in "mostly-heroic" interrogations.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Solstice just blinked, took a couple moments to figure out how to phrase this diplomatically. "There...does come a point when 'pragmatic' is no longer the most accurate descriptor for a given course of action," he went with. It was as close as he could manage.

"Um. What plan was this now, for those of us that weren't here?"

[CandyLaser]

"Completely unacceptable." Aurora was firm on that point. "We are protectors, not murderers. Should you try, I won't be party to it - and you'll have to go through me before you can do it."

[Kymme]

"Hm. Steadfast and unyielding as always, Aurora. I appreciate that." There is no falsehood in her tone.

Beneath her mask, her eyes flutter from Guardian to Guardian, assessing their reactions to her plan. ~Revulsion, disapproval, antipathy...~ Everyone was responding just the way she had expected. Good. There are many reasons for her fellow Guardians to distrust her, and the impassive brutal plans she formulated from time to time are one of them. But she had to be sure. If anyone was slipping, she'd be the first to know. The Guardians work at too high a level to be anything but self-regulated, and she had made it her personal mission to safeguard them. The last time they were betrayed... The fallout still weighs heavy in her thoughts.

[Volthawk]

Warp seems rather reluctant to get involved in this conversation, and is in particular reacting badly to Calliope's suggestion. "What? What the hell is wrong with you? Why is this even mentioned?"

[Oroboros]

"While on a level I can appreciate the logic of Calliope's plan, I too feel that it goes too far. I have an alternate solution. I believe that I proposed a device that could measure cranial activity. Such a tool would be quite simple for me to produce. In fact, I utilize a similar contraption in my lab in order to help me micromanage large projects. I could measure stimulus in certain areas of the brain in response to prompts. If you prompt the mercenaries, and there is a surge of activity in the hippocampus, I will know that they are accessing a long-term memory and thus have some recollection of what you are mentioning. For example, if you were to, say, bring up the dealings with Rimilin and then list off suspects, whichever one triggers each of their long term memories consistently would be a prime suspect. Additionally, this method of interrogation is nearly impossible to resist. Even if they realize what we are doing, they can hardly avoid thinking about a white elephant should we tell them not to. We will, of course, have to confirm that the mercenaries in question hadn't associated with the other suspects in the past, but we can still glean valuable data either way. If you agree with this method, I can modify an existing apparatus to serve our needs."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Do we have a list of suspects?" Tommy asked.

"Actually, guys, if I could propose a kinda crazy idea? What if I just, you know, talked to them? I mean, I know it lacks the punch of some of the other options, but who knows, maybe it'll be just crazy enough to work. I can be pretty persuasive, you know."

[Starsign]

Sharkguard almost gave a sigh of relief as he hears Syntherion's plan, something which would make this entire interrogation far easier to deal with, while possibly not making it an interrogation at all. The shark-man rubs the back of his neck, before proceeding to scratch it as an itchy spot, when Solstice mentions something more sensible than anything involving physical force or pain. "I... never quite thought of that," Sharkguard responds to Solstice in a clearly embarrassed tone. "Always thought soldiers like these would need something more than words, but it might work."

He waves to the old mechanical engineer as he begins sounding more cheerful again. "Got the gist of that device; read info in one's brain when we speak about a topic to them, right? Sounds easy enough." Sharkguard's lack of tech savvy is pretty well known among the Guardians, though he's always interested in trying to follow them. Part of this comes from being around Typhon so much; the younger aberrant is frequently involved with anything related to science and eventually the shark-man had to take an interest in a whole study of academics.

Leaning next to a wall, Sharkguard looks over Warp and his understandable hesitance to get involved. "Ain't the most heroic thing we've done," he begins, attempting to reassure the young hero. "But you don't worry; this thing shouldn't take long. I'm gonna talk with one of the soldiers along with Solstice. Then we'll have more fun things to do when we got ourselves a lead, aye?" Though preaching towards the best possible result is not the greatest of ideas, it definitely can be one of the more comforting ideas when it comes from an experienced Guardian such as Sharkguard.

[Oroboros]

"It appears that we have a plan, then. Syntherion will construct his device. In the meantime, Solstice and Sharkguard can go and interrogate one of the prisoners. I would recommend not starting with Wolf, as I suspect that he will prove highly resistant to questioning. Use your best judgment."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"He'd also likely know more, wouldn't he? Actually, come to think of it, what do we know about him? Negotiations usually go easier when you have half a clue what the subject wants."

Let's see, a cursory check indicates that no active PCs have Well Informed, but could Typhon maybe buff Greyhound with Well Informed and some extra Investigation ranks?

[Starsign]

"Probably best to start with one of those lowly humans," Sharkguard playfully responds to Solstice. "We'll get a better idea of how to talk Wolf down after questioning a few soldiers and Synth's got his thingy done." Even in non-violent interrogations, Sharkguard's approach consisted of the "don't worry, just act rather than think," tone that occupies him whenever he goes to battle. Not to say he isn't dim-witted but he certainly thinks along simpler lines a lot of the time. He does however know to not go it alone as he waves over to Typhon and Greyhound. "Ay, Typhon and Greyhound. We don't know how long this may be. Think you can check up what you might know on these guys that we don't already know?" Sharkguard certainly remembers the younger, monstrous-looking aberrant to be very clever at combining facts and putting two-and-two together, while Greyhound might know more about these prisoners than anyone else. It won't hurt to find out all they can.

The shark-man looks down to Solstice, given that the two are going to be doing the talking for now. "How are we doing this? Looks like we could make a good "good cop, bad cop" duo if you want to go with that." Sharkguard's large frame and toothy smile, along with his boisterously deep tone fit well for frightening people, though it might be less effective for presumably-trained soldiers. Even now he had a look indicating he is physically superior to whichever villain he'd stare down and can easily "dig in" if he wanted to; both he and the rest of the Guardians are quite glad he has the restraint and care for human life that helps make him a hero.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Fair enough. And yeah, I'll play good cop," Solstice said with a slender grin, before leading the way to the cells to pick one of the prisoners basically at random. If the cells were separated enough, he'd leave the prisoner inside, but if others would be able to hear the conversation, he'd get the prisoner out and take it to a more secure room.

Either way, once they were settled, he'd start right in. "So! You're the lucky one today! You get to be the guy who tells us, just, everything we want to know in exchange for leniency! So, let's get started. Rimilin. You guys were playing middleman for him. All I need is to know who for, and whatever useful information you may have on them, and we are square!"

Gonna lead off with a basic Persuasion check at [roll0]. He gets a DC 26 Will save to reduce the result by 16. Since the Resistible is on Solstice's Enhanced Presence as a whole, I would imagine the result of the Will save would just apply to all social skills for the scene, although if you feel it'd be better to roll it anew with each skill check, that works too.

Either way, Solstice gains an additional +5 bonus if Attractive applies against this particular soldier.

[Starsign]

Following Solstice into the cell, Sharkguard stands at the corner of the room where the lighting fails to shine. He lets Solstice do his persuasion as the shark-man stands in the shadows; red eyes appear from the darkness with small glimmers of his sharp teeth showing. While his voice and his frame can speak far more than being a dark presence, his current position lets him begin playing himself up as a bad cop, a looming figure that will inevitably be involved. If he can work in enough fear in the long run then that will be for the best.

Quick post, just getting in so I'm ready to pull off the bad cop routine when the time is right. :smallsmile:

[Oroboros]

The mercenary rolls his eyes, then averts his gaze from Solstice's. He spits on the ground, before drawling out a response.

"Sorry, fairy-boy. Wish I could help ya, but I can't. Boss doesn't like us grunts gettin' too... informed. And this guy was being all secretive-like, distorted-voice-on-a-video-monitor kinda stuff. S' a bit Saturday-morning cartoony, ta be honest. I do know one thing, though. One juicy tidbit. I got my rep as a merc on the line here, so do me a favor and don't tell no one I's the guy who spilled the beans, kay? I'll trust your word, so if ya agree to keep your trap shut I'll give you what I know."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Solstice was kinda considering going to one of the other mercs with the offer just out of spite for the "fairy boy" comment. Fourteen year olds and mercenaries, honestly. It would be kinda amusing to see the look on his face when Solstice left him alone in a dark room with Sharkguard...

The cool, calm discipline of Autumn rose up in him. It doesn't matter. Only thing that matters is getting the information.

Outwardly, he just gave the mercenary an encouraging smile. "That would be most appreciated," he said. He was going to continue with an assurance but...hesitated.

Solstice did not consider himself beholden to a code of honor when dealing with the likes of these mercenaries. A code of ethics, certainly, but not honor. From a purely rational standpoint, he was completely willing to assure the mercenary of his discretion whether he actually intended to give it or not. He doubted the mercenary would be able to see past his poker face well enough to know the difference.

But Autumn was a serious season, a no-nonsense time of hard work in preparation for Winter. A time when a community had to band together. And there was a certain integrity in that, a duty to one's fellows. Those feelings came along with the sense of discipline, made Solstice hesitate to make a promise he might not intend to keep. Was it really worth it to break his word so casually?

So for those few seconds, the fey warrior considered, a thoughtfully stern look on his face. Was he willing to promise discretion? Did he have any reason that he might want to go back on such a promise later? Would it be to his advantage, perhaps, to reveal to Wolf which of his soldiers had turned?

No. No, not that he could see.

"You have my word," Solstice said, and surely outwardly, those few seconds of uncertainty would have appeared as him giving true and due consideration to the request, rather than merely answering immediately with what he thought the mercenary would want to hear. The wisdom of countless generations of honest farmers working at the harvest was not so hard to see. "None will know from whom I received this information, should my actions or will suffice to prevent such knowledge."

I'll leave off on the straight social checks to influence the guy per the OOC, but there is one I do want to roll. Bluffs are opposed by either Deception or Insight, so I'm going to roll Deception as an opposing check against any bluffs the mercenary may make: [roll0].

Also, gah, finally I managed a proper post with Solstice. Man I've been having trouble getting into his head for some reason.

[Oroboros]

"Ok, buddy. I never saw the guy that Rimilin was workin' with, never heard his voice. Maybe the boss did, maybe he didn't. What I do know is this: he's based somewhere in or around Atlantis. At least, hes gotta base somewhere 'round Atlantis. I saws somma the shippin records, for when we were givin 'ol Rimmie the parts for, uh, for that Core of his. All of the parts came from somewhere in Atlantis. S' all I got ta tell you, I swear. Can I go now?"

At his last statement, the mercenary gives what he thinks is a winning grin, but just looks kind of creepy.

As far as anyone can tell, the mercenary was mostly telling the truth. The only part where he sounded like he might have been fudging the truth was when he was said that he was giving Rimilin the parts for the Core.

[Starsign]

Sharkguard turns out to be quite impressed with Solstice; for a apparent trained guard this soldier sure is very open to being persuaded. The two Guardians got far more out of this guy than the shark-man had ever expected. The whole base being in or around Atlantis works just fine for the shark-man as well; that will probably be a place he'll be more welcome in due to his water-based frame, even though he is an aberrant. Though Sharkguard is silent he keeps to mind that he's honor-bound to not let this out to any other soldier, much as Solstice agreed to. Sharkguard always had a sense of honor in his superhero work much as he does when he's challenged for supremacy. He's supposed to be a good hero after all.

Today however he is playing the bad cop. Until now he didn't have a reason to do anything else but stand menacingly in the shadows. The soldier's little stutter promoted a sense of doubt in the shark-man's trust, one which suggested swapping out the good cop out. "He be ain't tellin' th' whole tale," Sharkguard says amidst the shadows; his deep voice suddenly booms out in the cell as his pirate accent returns. He moves forward to the soldier as the shark-man slowly swings his arm as an acting way to push Solstice away. If Sharkguard is playing bad cop, he'd better act like it.

The larger Guardian smiles cruelly, showing teeth which could bite through flesh and armor like it is nothing. "Ye ain't got anythin' t' lose by tellin' all ye know human." He folds his arms as he continues, standing like a titan relative to the soldier and Solstice. "But there be a lot more to ye life that we can take away. Ain't nothin' more for some human thug when yer left with th' fishes and nothin' on ye back." Sharkguard spoke without the jovial tone that came with his accent, though also speaking through his own literal experience; the years after becoming an aberrant and living in the sea was a lonely time minus all the villain-fighting he did. "So how's 'bout ye tell us more 'bout these shippin' records? Somethin' else ye gave to Rimilin, or someone else ye be sellin' to?"

Making no rolls here since this is largely RP based. Though lemme know if you want me to roll for anything. :smallsmile:

[Oroboros]

"Uh... we, uh, well, we... ummmmm. "
The mercenary stutters nervously, before shaking his head and seeming to pull himself together.

"We, uh, sell to lots a people. Rimilin aint the only one. We, uh, we don't often act as the middlemen, see, but we do buy and sell lots of weapons. You want me to tell you about those? Well, theres this one guy in Venezuela, name of Mace, he makes lots of cool toys. Real useful stuff, too. One time, I was on mission, and one of the vests...."

The mercenary continues to ramble nervously on, reciting some odd story that had often been told many times before, about a magnet-powered vest, a nun, and a herd of bison. It's clear to see that he is desperately trying to change the topic, trying to dodge some part of the question.

Make an insight check if you want to attempt to read the guard, and find out what part of Sharkguard's inquiry made him so nervous.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Buddy," Solstice interrupted, holding up a hand. "Listen, I want to be clear about something. We in the Guardians? We're really good at what we do. Now, what Sharkguard and I here do, it's mostly about beating up the bad guys and laughing hysterically when they futilely try to beat us up in response. Toss in a little healing on my end, a lot of swimming on his end, and you've got a pretty concise picture."

"And you see, that's why we're the first ones in here. Because we don't do the stuff like rummaging around inside your head for secrets. Or compelling you to answer our questions through supernatural compulsion. Or building machines and sticking a few dozen wires in your head to scan your brainwaves - it doesn't actually hurt, you see, because the brain doesn't have any nerves. There are people who do stuff like that in the Guardians, and they are just as good at what they do."

"The point I'm trying to make here, is that you were doing really good at first. You told us what you wanted, we told you what we wanted, we came to a nice little agreement, you were working on fulfilling your end, and then suddenly..."

"BAM!" Solstice shouted as his colors shifted to the fiery brilliance of Summer, and the room grew noticeably warmer, springing to his feet, hurling his chair back with a clatter, and slamming both hands hard on the table. He started pacing back and forth with restless energy, and every time his path brought him in line with the mercenary, he emphasized his words a bit and pointed an accusatory finger at him. "You start getting all secretive! And hiding stuff from us! And that doesn't work for us, my friend. When the people we talk to start hiding stuff, then we have to go back to the other Guardians and tell them they weren't cooperating. And then they have to start with the investigations, and the divinations, and the mind reading, and the wires in the head, and it's just unpleasant for everybody."

"So here's what I want you to do. I want you to tell us, one more time, everything you know about Rimilin, and other arms dealers you've worked with, and anything you think would be useful to us Guardians in keeping the world safe from their likes. And I want you to make us believe that you are telling us everything. Because I want to be able to go out there to the other Guardians and tell them that you were fully cooperative and no further investigative efforts are required."

Solstice calmly went to pick up his chair, set it back down gently, and shifted back to the oranges and browns of Autumn as he sat back down. "So. You were saying?" he encouraged, just as cool and calm as you please.

[Dienekes]

Typhon hangs back and watches as the heroes go about their business. He remains silent as Calliope announces her plan, because a part of him realizes that there was some merit to it. More brutal methods didn't frequently work when put on one person, but when stories can be verified through many different sources, methods such as torture and mental domination actually could be effective.

Best not to think like that, Typhon had to remind himself as his allies made a chorus of protestations against Calliope's plan.

But now he was given a task, investigate the various soldiers, find some leverage on them to use. Who they were working for presently and in the past, obviously. Though other information could be just as useful as well, illegal activities on their record, family members hidden away somewhere, and of course, their bank accounts. If he found those, he had them.

Nodding to Greyhound, Typhon began to move toward the computers. "We can use the central Guardians archives for some of this information, if we split up the workload we can go faster, I'm assuming you have access to government records that I don't, look through them first, that way we're less likely to both dig up the same information as each other. We're going for leverage as well as information."

Variable: Giving myself and Greyhound +5 Investigation, Teamwork, Contacts, and Well-Informed

[Oroboros]

The mercenary stares wide-eyed at Solstice for a few seconds, before slowly, carefully opening his mouth to speak. Every word is carefully considered, spoken slowly and deliberately. All traces of his accent are gone, another layer of mental defense discarded.

"Everything I said earlier? About secrecy? This goes double here. Because if Wolf ever, ever finds out that one of us handed over CODE RED level information, he'll.... he'll..."

The mercenary pauses, shudders, and then continues.
"Three years of his life learning the fine points of extracting information through torture. Another sixteen in independent study. I'll become an example for the rest of the men."

"Wolf has different levels of information secrecy, and this tidbit got top priority. Rimilin was always a strong summoner, but he wasn't strong enough. The mystery man wanted his product to be as safe as possible. He gave Rimilin... something. I don't know what it was, but it juiced him up. We mercs have to learn a lot about mages and their ilk, part of the job. One key rule of magecraft is that while you can get better, more skilled, it takes years of practice, like working out. You can become more efficient with you power, using rituals, stores of energy, and the like. But getting stronger? Flat out, level up, better-than-you-were-before stronger? That would be like a human replacing their muscles with steel cords. That just doesn't happen, and it certainly doesn't come in a neat little gift-wrapped package. Or so we thought. Whoever this mystery guy is, he's messing with some weird things. Fundamental things about magic itself."

The mercenary closes his eyes, and lets out a deep breath. He looks drained, timid, resigned, but most importantly, sincere.

"That's all. This time, for real."

[Starsign]

Sharkguard stands back as the good cop comes in to try and console the frightened and shivering soldier. There's a slight grumble from the shark-man as he backs up, not quite done his intimidation while also knowing he simply can't read the prisoner very well. Sharkguard never was the best at analyzing someone's motive or condition beyond the obvious notes; there's a good reason why he always loses in bluffing and deduction games. It is good then that Solstice is far better at it, able to snitch out every last word that he can get his hands on. His sudden release of energy had surprised the shark-man a bit, but not enough to dry up his frightening look and tone.

"Now that ain't so hard, aye?" he says darkly to the soldier. There isn't a lie in Sharkguard's mind that the information received is very intriguing. Growing more powerful than one already is? Would that work for metahuman powers in addition to magecraft? Sure it's a destructive nightmare in the hands of any rampaging or mastermind villain but imagine the possibilities if one such as Sharkguard can benefit from it. He always does like power even when he is extremely responsible with it; the imagination of actually being as tough as someone like Aegis is almost literally to die for. Sharkguard almost looked a little too jovial as he had heard the soldier's info.

"Now ye listen well human. We be followin' our deal. Ain't a word o' this sails to Wolf or his mates." Sharkguard begins to turn around, ready to leave the cell if Solstice is. The shark-man can't help but get in one last warning to incite a small degree of fearful paranoia into the soldier. "But don't ye think 'bout leavin' 'ere. Solstice ain't lyin' 'bout th' other Guardians." It's hard to say when Sharkguard's confident grin is actually terrifying to behold; he sure does try to make it so for every villain he comes across.

Sharkguard turns to look at the younger Guardian once again. "Ye all done 'ere Solstice?"

Waiting on Quellian to see if Solstice is done with the interrogation of this very very unfortunate soldier. :smalltongue:

[Quellian-dyrae]

Solstice's scowl darkened dangerously as the mercenary spoke of his fears should Wolf learn the truth. The words echoed in the Guardian's head. Sixteen years of independent study... "Wolf will not learn of this. And I will personally see to it that he is never again in a position that he would be able to act on such knowledge even if he were to acquire it." There was nothing but cold certainty in the warrior's voice.

Solstice kept his face an impassive mask at the explanation, although that was likely due more to the subtle illusion of his glamour than true personal control.

Because the thing was, humans developing steel muscles? Yeah, it did happen.

They called them Neohumans.

And the thought of a person as powerful as a mage, with that same sort of upgrade...a Neomagus.

Yeah. This guy had to be stopped.

"Yeah, I'm good," he answered Sharkguard, before saying once more to the mercenary, "You have been very helpful. You have my thanks. I will do what I can to see to it that you are released as soon as possible." Then he stood, opened the door, and escorted the man back to his cell.

Less than a minute later, he was back with Odin and whatever other Guardians were around, and told them everything they had learned.

[Starsign]

Sharkguard fully returned to his jovial self as he and Solstice arrive back with the others while Typhon and Greyhound are searching around for information on Wolf. He definitely seemed far happier about the info they got than Solstice is. "Solstice gave about the gist of it," he spoke after Solstice had relayed the information to the Guardians here. "Those mercs gave the parts for the core and some superpower thing that powered Rimilin up. Both the base is and the parts came from Atlantis." The shark-man isn't too fond of Atlantis, largely for the place's dislike of aberrants. If Atlantis is supposed to be a home for neohumans then it should rightfully welcome aberrants as well.

He looks over to Odin with a small but rare frown. Being housed in Atlantis meant one thing. "Triton isn't gonna let us simply scan the landmass of Atlantis for a base, will they Odin?" The Atlanteans are supposed to help with supervillains but a base in Atlantis meant it should be their job... And Sharkguard is so interested in learning about this power-giving thing Rimilin took. He slams his fists together, trying to encourage himself. "Bet they could have something underwater if its nearby. Wouldn't take long to scout out if this interrogation will take awhile." If it came down to it, Sharkguard would absolutely march down below and near Atlantis and search the ocean below for a possible underwater base; the oldest of the Guardians here know the shark-man is hunt down his prey even when he has little else to go on... At least when he's not being rejected by everyone over his plans.

[CandyLaser]

"Atlantis, hmmm?" Aurora hadn't had many dealings with the Atlanteans. In general, she left the seas to Sharkguard - she was just as comfortable there as she was in the depths of space, but she didn't want to intrude on anyone else's turf. But now it seemed like there were dark doings going on under the waves. "If you're going down, Sharkguard, I'll come with you. But I'd urge you to wait for Wolf's questioning. Searching the seas - even just near Atlantis - could take months, especially since there's no guarantee that a base exists or is on the sea floor."

[Starsign]

Sharkguard gives a cheerful, yet respectful laugh to Aurora. "Course it'd take months, but interrogating Wolf ought to be a day at most!" He lowers down to a chuckle as the situation of reality sets in his mind; he won't be there to help interrogate Wolf or respond to any sudden villain attacks should he search the seafloor for a theoretical base. "But aye aye, I hear you. Probably wouldn't work out anyway; we know Odin enough that he doesn't take any crap from us." He winks and gives Odin a very slight slap on the back as a friendly gesture. Even if Sharkguard hasn't been a Guardian as long as Aurora or Calliope, the shark-man has dealt poorly with losing friends and allies. Perhaps this is because he was not present during Ragnarok, when Guardians died on such a massive scale that it probably hardened the surviving heroes. That's one reason why he feels he's bonded so well with Odin, who has lost far more than anyone here.

Trying not to think of the past, Sharkguard smiles widely for a moment, teeth and all. "I keep forgetting I'm not the only one that can breath underwater," he continues speaking to Aurora. "Hell I'm jealous you get to go into space. Can't I come with you too sometime? I wanna see life beyond our solar system for crying out loud." His small talk with Aurora spoke in glee though also in a small degree of ignorance, not speaking of the last time the shark-man chose to test his fortitude, even with a breathing mask, against the vast emptiness of space; a common fact most other Guardians knows about by now.

[Volthawk]

Warp chuckles, appearing on and sticking to the ceiling above Sharkguard and Aurora. "Yeah, that went real well last time, Sharky. Considered getting the techies getting you some proper life support gear for space?" As if to elaborate his point, he gestures towards the mask of his own costume. "Kinda goes into what I was going to say anyway. If you're going on a trip to Atlantis, no way am I passing up on that. Suit lets me breathe down there, and the more mobility you have down there, the easier it'll be to find what we're looking for." Atlantis was one of those places he hadn't visited too much - his trips there tended to be interesting, but on the whole they seemed to have things under control there, so he didn't need to hang around and help out like on most other places in the world. They seemed like good people, anyway.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"I'll stick around here, see if I can get anything out of Wolf, perhaps." It wasn't too likely, but it was worth a shot. In any event, Solstice had neither the ability nor the inclination to explore the undersea or outer space. The thought of it actually made him feel a little uncomfortable, for the same reason he'd never really be able to call the Sentinel home.

Beneath the waves and among the stars, there were no seasons.

[Kymme]

Calliope frowns under her mask as the rest of the Guardians discuss the mission to Atlantis. She'd visited the place before, but only for a short while. It was a stable society--for now. Things like that can change on a whim.

"I'll accompany you. I don't need to breathe, and you'll want me on hand in case things get take a turn for the worst."

[Hyperbolic sine]

"We can use the central Guardians archives for some of this information, if we split up the workload we can go faster, I'm assuming you have access to government records that I don't, look through them first, that way we're less likely to both dig up the same information as each other. We're going for leverage as well as information."

Variable: Giving myself and Greyhound +5 Investigation, Teamwork, Contacts, and Well-Informed

"Sounds like a plan, though I don't know if I'll be able to find something. I'll work on it immediatly." Greyhound replies, and heads for his room and his computer. Wolf, Wolf...do we have something on you?

Ugh, I never posted in the Firestorm thread so I didn't recieve email notifications.

Well, rolling Investigation with Typhon's buffs to search for...something useful, I suppose. [roll0]

[Oroboros]

Greyhound peruses the files mentioning Wolf, but they don't often have specific information. His official Guardians profile lacks much specific detail in the powers and abilities section. Much of it is extrapolated off of the technologies that he stole from the Greyhound program. His bio has plenty of information about his life before he became a mercenary, as the records are augmented by government files. However, after he founded Foxhound, there is little detail. Several small nations have a moderate bounty on his head. There is no information that would assist in in interrogation.

[Starsign]

Sharkguard raises his head to look up at Warp, giving the younger Guardian a smirk. "Bah, it was just a freeze paralysis and I was using that breathing device already. All Synth needs to make is a small layered heating suit. Don't need all the trinkets your tech's got, nor that silly human astronaut suit that punctures at a bullet's touch." Sharkguard is thoroughly confident in his own fortitude when it came to hostile conditions, though as his prior experience told him, he can't simply brute force the vast coldness of space for very long, much less breathe vacuum for a couple seconds. He didn't need much at least to get out and work in space when called for... not that now is a good time for it.

Attempting to stay on course with the current situation, Sharkguard looks to the other Guardians who have volunteered. "So myself, Aurora, Calliope and Warp? Hah! Bet that base will be crying when they see the most experienced Guardians barging in!" Any situation that called for the big three field leaders of the diamond-tier Guardians tends to be a huge thing, even when this is originally a recon mission. Given this whole issue about "neomagicians" or "neomagus," it's probably right to bring the best of the best for this one.

Given the shark-man's boisterous attitude, he tones it down slightly when he considers the actual concern with searching. He gives a small sigh, toning down his smirk into a small smile as he continues. "...But I hate to say it, we'd probably need to see Triton about what he'd know first." Sharkguard had very little love for Atlantis' leader; Triton thought too lowly of aberrants for the shark-man to happily negotiate with the ruler. "Shall we go see him before we search anywhere? I don't know about the rest of you but I've met him directly a couple times back. Unless Triton once sought out Calliope for her wisdom I imagine he'd be best to talk to me." Given what the other Guardians know of Sharkguard and Triton, having the shark-man as the main negotiator may not be the best plan. Even he knows that Aurora or Calliope might be better to speak with someone high in authority, but Sharkguard doesn't want to pass up a possibility that he can tell Triton off on the ruler's aberrant-hating ways.

[Oroboros]

Odin nods, considering the Guardian's plan.
"I could arrange a meeting with Triton."
He grins, adding "He still owes us for that incident in the Philippines."

[Starsign]

Sharkguard happily smiles to Odin. "That Triton does Odin," he responds, remembering that the shark-man had been involved with that incident and has yet to be directly apologized for that mess. Good thing the shark-man can be a forgiving god, otherwise this meeting would have been a grudge that could have been settled.

He looks to the others who will be coming, Calliope, Aurora and Warp. "Could be a bore talking to Triton. Heck I'm looking for to what'll come after rather than the talk itself." Sharkguard only spoke with a bit of truth, in reality quite excited to talk down the ruler of Atlantis if he happens to get the chance. He leans back on the wall, arms folded. "So, anything you three want to do while we're there? I could let you know how it went when done and you all may not get a chance to do any sort of free time. Been to Atlantis before; sure ain't like most countries I'll tell you that." Given that heroes standing around is a terrible thing, the shark-man figures it'd be best that he doesn't drag the heroes to something where they could have things of their own to do or check out where they might be needed elsewhere.

With a pause, as he's awaiting or listening to responses, he checks the nearby clock seeing how much time has been spent since capturing Wolf and the other soldiers. He wonders how Typhon and Greyhound are doing. Hopefully they got something on Wolf and can get caught up to speed on the plan to visit Atlantis.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Greyhound was trained for combat, not intel gathering, and it shows: he tries several things, but as expected in the end he doesn't find out much. He prints the files, and the goes to search for Typhon.

"Here's all I found, but there's nothing useful in it." he says once he finds him, handing him the sheets. "Were your efforts a little bit more meaningful?"

[Dienekes]

Typhon nods at Greyhound as he taps away at the computer, and indicates an open spot on his desk. "I'll read through them in a second, I'm just finishing my own search."

Investigation: [roll0]
To find personal information on Wolf, mostly looking for where he's putting his money.

[Kymme]

"Don't be so quick to assume, Sharkguard. Triton is a man of many talents, and his Hydrokinesis is the least of them."

Years ago, Calliope had been approached by a group of vigilantes that called themselves the "Coalition". They were looking for someone new to add to their ranks, and had turned to The Wandering Eye for advice. Calliope spoke to them of a young man on the East Coast who had miraculously saved his father with a cocoon of water... and then dropped completely off the map. She told them his name and their search began.

Some things require a simple push to be set into motion, and Calliope was not surprised in the least when the young Triton emerged as a supremely powerful Neohuman and created his own island nation. It was a shame about the Philippines Incident, though. She feels pangs every time somebody brings it up. Sea turtles.... ugh.

"I'll talk to Triton with you, Sharkguard. World knows you might need a mediator. After that... hm..." Calliope brings a hand up to her mask as if stroking her chin. "Perhaps I'll take in what musical pleasures Atlantis has to offer. Such a melding of cultures is bound to produce something truly unique."

[CandyLaser]

"I'll head down on my own and do a quick sweep, just to make sure we're not teleporting into a trap. Triton's fine, but as I recall he's not incredibly keen on unannounced visitors - and if our mysterious compound is in the area, we wouldn't want to raise too many alarms there or get caught in its defensive net."

[Oroboros]

Typhon's search uncovers some interesting information. Wolf has left some unique money trails in his time. Syntherion has a program that tracks almost every digital purchase on the planet, installed in the interest of preventing money laundering and fraud. Wolf's purchases, aside from the usual more-money-than-I -could-spend-in-a-lifetime purchases (mansions, yachts), are primarily in the form of investments into promising new weapons or military technologies. For example, one private company is developing a headset that would allow soldiers to transmit one or two syllable words using only their thoughts. Years behind what Syntherion has, but still invaluable in combat. Wolf also spends a significant chunk of his money paying his men. Typhon also picks up on some potentially valuable information about his recent location: Wolf has several "anonymous" credit cards, which make purchases all over the world. During the timeframe wherein he was working for Rimilin, every other week there were a number of purchases near Rimilin's base. On the "off" weeks, the purchases came primarily from the South Beach district of Atlantis. Interestingly, Wolf never paid a hotel or some other form of lodging. Wolf has a pattern of staying in extravagant living quarters whenever possible, so it seems unlikely that he was squatting in Atlantis amidst several four and five star hotels. This appears to indicate that someone else was either providing lodging for him, or making the hotel reservations in his name. A cursory perusal of the hotel records reveal no reservations made on the same dates as Wolf's men arrived and left the island. This appears to indicate that somewhere in the Atlantis South Beach district, someone, possibly even the Neomagus himself, is maintaining a base.

tl;dr: Someone probably has a base in Atlantis South Beach district that Wolf and his men were staying at while working as the go-between for Rimilin and the Neomagus.

[Starsign]

Sharkguard smiles back to Calliope, absolutely unsurprising that the singer requests to be brought along for the negotiations. "What, you can't put good faith in me?" he says as some cheerful 'complaint.' "You know I've been persuasive before and I know Triton well. And 'sides, I took that incident in the Philippines well." If "well" meant being way too excited fighting giant monsters, then Sharkguard nailed it down; most of the other heroes didn't share his enthusiasm. He looks to Aurora as he continues. "Recon won't hurt but I don't expect Triton to throw a panic and throw the entire Atlanteans at us. We've got enough of a rep that he'll see us if he knows we're at the gates. He ain't gonna turn down an offer to check about if he knows we're serious." He is taking this with all the concern of a giddy idealist, with all the bloodthirstiness of any lover of battle.

Sharkguard looks back up to Warp as the shark-man places his hands behind his head in a relaxed pose. "So Warp, you know any good seafood bars over at Atlantis? Thought we'd get something there once we find and march through that base. Got one place I know there if you're up to it." He waves over to Solstice and asks, "Up for that too Solstice? Bet Atlantis won't mind serving Earth's greatest heroes once we hunt down this neomagus guy." Sharkguard always did like having fish when he can; Atlantis is a gold mine in that regard. How could he not pass up the chance to dine in fish and drink after a hard, or rather fun day's fight?

Trying to keep interaction going while waiting on Dienekes. Are we waiting on Typhon and Greyhound to reveal the information to us now? :smallsmile:

[Volthawk]

It seems in the time since Sharkguard last looked at Warp, he'd momentarily vanished to grab one of the stash of snacks he has on the station, this time a toasted sandwich, apparently. "Sorry, just put this on to grill when the guys came back with their info dump. Kinda burnt, but it'll do." He takes a bite, making a little bit of a face before shrugging. "Eh, it's energy. Anyway, yeah, I know some food places. Kinda interesting place I found one time might appeal to you, actually. See, what they do is they go get whatever they can get their hands on out there and then just put everything out for people to choose from. No set menu or anything, just what they have at the time. They get some interesting stuff through sometimes." He grins, remembering a story. "Last time I went there they'd just caught this mad scientist type guy who was doing all kinds of weird experiments to the local wildlife, and during the bust-up, a bunch of his projects got out, big problem, safety risk and all that. Anyway, this place, they don't care and go out and catch themselves some mutant fish. Turns out they have a dude who can do all kinds of stuff with poison, and his way of making that legit was working here and using his neohuman abilities to make sure everything's good to eat, so they have him check everything, turns out most things are good. So they wheel out this fish, some kinda...goldfish type thing, except it's the size of a damn car or something. Like I said, the guy was doing some crazy stuff. So we're all just hanging around in there, looking at this thing, and the guy in charge just goes "Hey, we've got ten of these things so dig in!". Ends up being a whole thing, with people coming in from outside and bits being sent out and about to people, the guy giving it away to people who are in a bad state, then people start bringing drinks and music and it all went a bit nuts. Good times, last I heard they kept some and were trying to breed them, but it wasn't going so well."

Rambling over, he sits down. "And yeah, on the business end, eh I guess I can go a-wandering and poke around a bit, get the lay of things. After all, if you need me I'll be a few seconds away. But yeah, Aurora has a point - my teleporting is pretty subtle, but any fancy sensors made for the job will pick me up, most likely." He munches some more, taking a break from talking.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Mmm...seafood...

"I want to see what Typhon and Greyhound learn, and take a swing at Wolf, first," Tommy said. "But yeah if you guys are grabbing something to eat once you're done investigating, that should be time enough. I'm in."

[Dienekes]

"Got something," Typhon says to Greyhound. "Seems like Wolf has been working around Atlantis, evidence of a base of operations of someone important there. Important and secure enough that they can house Wolf and accomodate his tastes."

He turned to look at the soldier. "And," he said as one of his mouths smiled. "I have his bank accounts, and evidence of where he's getting his technology. Since Wolf is a known felon selling him this equipment would be, very, illegal. We can ruin him."

[Oroboros]

Odin stands up in the conference room to address the assembled Guardians. "Alright, Guardians. We have obtained enough information to act. If nobody has any objections, I recommend that we launch a mission to Atlantis posthaste. Sharkguard, Calliope, I believe you two have expressed interest in an audience with Trition. I will contact him and notify him of your imminent arrival. The remainder of teams Firestorm and Tempest will accompany them, to provide support in the event of a confrontation, and to assist in the neutralization of the lair of this "Neomagus", provided that our information on its whereabouts is correct. Are there any questions, comments, or concerns? If there are not, Warp has permission to deploy the stated Guardians to Atlantis at his discretion.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Works for me," Solstice said. If Odin thought they had sufficient information, that was good enough for him.

[CandyLaser]

Aurora smiled. Part of her enjoyed the moments before action. When things started going crazy, she felt she had to be everywhere, keeping innocents and her team safe. But now, no one was in immediate danger, and she could savor the incipient thrill of forthcoming action. "Let's go, team."

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Excellent." Greyhound replies to Typhon, before Odin's announcement. "Well, seems we have to go." he adds, then heads for the conference room.

[Starsign]

At the conference room, Sharkguard's tongue lashed slightly over his teeth as he thought about the restaurant Warp mentioned before. Giant goldfish and crazy food served with drinks and music? Of course that was absolutely everything the shark-man would enjoy. He definitely never finds fish that big in the ocean; usually he has to gobble up dozens of trout just to satisfy his stomach. A place like that might be perfect for him and some of the other Guardians to visit after his work is done in Atlantis.

"An' ye know I always be up t' this Odin," he joins in, throwing his accent out as preparation. "Lookin' forward t' crashin' th' Neomagus' place once we find it." It really is all about the fight for the shark-man. He won't however have a problem speaking to Triton, probably to the grief of the calmer and more wise Guardians. Pity for Sharkguard that the Atlanteans didn't have someone as battle-happy as him; a rivalry like that would be fun for him.

Before the group heads off, Sharkguard walks over and smiles widely to Typhon. Atlantis likely will not be a pretty place for the younger aberrant; he can use all the help he can get. "Hey Typhon. Good job finding that info on Wolf. If Greyhound couldn't find anything then I don't think anyone but you could have." He turns his head towards Solstice as the shark-man continues, "And that one's a real talker. It's great having him here." There is a pause as Sharkguard attempts to think of what to say next. He could endlessly praise Typhon, right up to how much the aberrant has "evolved" since they first met. The most Sharkguard does say however is a simple attempt at reassuring his friend. "Well, I'm just saying that we're both here for you when we head down. You know I won't let any damn Atlantean curse you while I'm around!"

His smile struggles to stay as wide as it is when he turns around to look at the other Guardians again. It is plain that the shark-man is going to be doing something that is far better suited for someone else and will be done out for a somewhat selfish reason of Sharkguard's. Knowing Typhon is a far more intelligent aberrant, the shark-man asks Typhon, "...You think I ought to let Solstice handle this? We know Triton respects power, something i'm drenched in, but Solstice here sure can talk a lot better than I could. Aberrant or not, bet even Atlantis could get comfortable with him." Though Solstice and Draco weren't quite as aberrant-looking as Sharkguard or Typhon they can still appear significant enough to be classed as such; this generally didn't mean well if they are going to Atlantis. Yet in this case trading words with Triton just might be more important than trying to hoping for the best from his reputation and grudging respect for the shark-man.

[Dienekes]

"Hmm," Typhon grunted to Greyhound as Odin's call came. Never a dull moment.

Upon meeting up with the others Typhon quickly got the details of the plan and situation before telling what he had found out on Wolf. Typhon looked at Sharkguard while the older aberrant was praising his work. A bit heavy handed, even for him. "Yes," Typhon finally said when Sharkguard was discussing who to have talk to Triton. "Having Triton not angry at us would be best, and Solstice is friendly enough and non-confrontational. He's better at tactful diplomacy, your better at getting soldiers friendly. Both useful, but now we probably would prefer the former."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"I wouldn't mind talking with him," Solstice said. "Should we bring a gift or something? That's something you do when visiting foreign leaders, right? Anyone have any idea what sort of things he likes?"

[Starsign]

The normally bombastic Sharkguard simply nods to Typhon when he's told to let Solstice talk to Triton. The older aberrant had figured this to be the outcome, though Typhon had been far gentler in describing Sharkguard's ways of diplomacy than needed. While the shark-man's disappointment can be seen beyond his kind smile, he had no intentions of trying to argue against it.

Instead he cheers himself up when Solstice brings up the idea of a gift. "Yar har har! A gift? That ain't something one can easily find for Triton. I imagine he can get almost anything he wants on Atlantis." Sharkguard thinks for a moment; when it came to something the shark-man can help get there isn't much in mind. "Bet he might like us bringing in one of his criminals wandering Atlantis. Warp and I could quickly scour for some villain hiding out in Atlantis, something smaller than this Neomagus base. Good show of appreciation; helps the country as well as us!" There is a pause as he considers his words again, knowing he's trying to find some way to get some more thrills in even when they'd be coming from the base. The shark-man know he isn't getting anywhere with that, not to mention what is probably a few immediate annoyed glares from a few of the Guardians. "...May as well find the base first in that case," he rebukes to himself, sounding a little disappointed. "Guess that ain't gonna work."

Folding his arms, he looks to the various Guardians. "Probably can't think of something real good. I don't have a clue what a ruler would appreciate a gift." Sharkguard has always been useless whenever politics came into play; he always let Odin and Calliope handled that. Goes to show all the more why the shark-man might be a bad idea to bring along for most forms of decision-making.

[Oroboros]

"A gift for Trition? The dilemma of getting a gift for one that already has almost everything he wants. " Odin grins.
"I do recall one thing, though. Triton seldom looks back on his childhood fondly, but I seem to recall that he misses the taste of a real, honest-to-goodness Philly Cheese Steak sandwich. Something about it never tasting quite the same. It's nothing fancy, but I have a feeling he would appreciate it. He can sometimes be such the sentimental sap," Odin recalls, the grin still on his face.

[CandyLaser]

Aurora had always found Triton's anti-aberrant sentiments both disappointing and perplexing. It was the flip side of Sharkguard's nascent aberrant supremacism, really. To her, it seemed obvious that there was no difference in kind between aberrants and other metahumans, nor between metahumans and normal people. Some people had skills or abilities that others lacked; that didn't put them in some sort of special class. And judging people on their appearance alone... well, that was straightforwardly wrong.

It was an old argument, though, not one she thought she could win at this late date. So she kept quiet on the subject and focused on the job. "Warp, want to make a run to Philly before meeting the rest of us in Atlantis? As long as Triton's not supporting this 'Neomagus' we just need her permission to take him out. Seems like a cheesesteak's the least we can do in return for that."

[Starsign]

Even having a pirate-y laugh, Sharkguard breaks it when Odin mentions what gift they can give to Triton. "Bwahahaha! Are you kidding? A sandwich?" Even trusting Odin most of the time, the shark-man can't help but be a little amused by some of the more unorthodox ideas that the oldest of the Guardians think of. "Sometimes you never cease to crack me up," Sharkguard says joyfully, though clearly not the most faithful in the idea. He left most sentimental things behind him after he became an aberrant; the sea is the only thing someone can't take away from him. The fact that Odin suggested a sandwich with melted cheese might not have helped. The last time Sharkguard had cheese it stuck to his teeth and gums for hours. No one was able to take him seriously when he tried flashing teeth churned and stained with cheese all over.

Still, Odin's idea usually was a better one than what the shark-man can come with and it'll probably be for the best if Solstice and Calliope are doing the talking. Sharkguard gives a look to Warp as the shark-man says, "Well I can't say if Odin's kidding or not, but he's usually got a better head in this than most of us. Probably won't hurt to go pick something like that Philly Cheese Steak sandwich before we head down there, aye?" Sharkguard has to know when to fold 'em and when it comes to diplomacy he can be like a blind navigator. Won't stop him from being amusingly skeptical though. "Though I'll be sure as hell damned if it works."

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Sounds like a plan to me. We stop at Philly, grab some cheese steaks, ask Triton if he would care to join us for a meal, and discuss matters with him while we eat. Makes matters a bit less formal; we're not a troupe of Guardians stomping in demanding he open his borders to our investigation. We're just a bunch of fellow Neos sharing a good meal." The whole "present yourself before the throne with full fanfare" bit had its merits, to be sure, but more things got accomplished around the lunch table than before the Court. Plus, you know, lunch, so that was always a plus. Solstice wouldn't say that food was the solution to every problem. Just to a lot of them.

[Volthawk]

Warp grins, nodding. "Sure, I could go for a sandwich. If it helps with the mission, all the better." Being honest with himself, Solstice's idea sounded a bit more comfortable to Warp than the proper official thing. Those kinds of things always felt a bit weird to him. Formality wasn't really something he was accustomed to.

[Oroboros]

"Excelent! Now that we have all agreed on the plan, I recommend moving out immediately. Warp, whenever you're ready, teleport us down. You should probably pick up the sandwich first, though."

[Starsign]

Sharkguard still looks amused at the whole idea of picking up something to eat. His smile isn't as wide as it was a short while ago; a sandwich doesn't compare to that crazy restaurant Warp mentioned before. He gives a rough chuckle; "Wait, now we're all getting some lunch?" Given how much Sharkguard eats, it probably won't hurt for him to have a snack in the meantime.

"Well if we're getting sandwiches, I may as well pick up one with fish in it, aye?" There isn't much among sandwiches that can actually fill his appetite but he does like to include himself among the Guardians; it's just like he enjoys being in the spotlight, for better or worse. "Guess we're pretty much inviting Triton out for lunch by this point, yar har har!" he bellows out in laughter as he waits for the series of teleports to come.

[Volthawk]

Warp chuckles. "Hey, if it gets the job done just as well, why not go for the nicer way? One trip to Philly coming up! Haven't had food from there with a while." Warp disappears for a second, returning with normal clothes over his costume, and then grabs everyone, making sure they're all touching as normal for a teleport, then gets them going. After taking the normal few seconds to sort himself out, Warp grins. "Well this'll be interesting. Bunch of diamonds turning up to get some food here, will be fun to see people's reactions." He'd put them in an alley where there should be less attention, and he himself probably wouldn't grab as much attention as the others, what with his clothes, Sharkguard being an aberrant and Aurora being...well, Aurora.

[Oroboros]

The Guardians appear in an alleyway across from a busy street. As they emerge from the alley, shocked and startled eyes turn their way. The crowd oohs and aahs, taking pictures. However, the civilians also know enough to realize that the appearance of that many high-level Guardians means trouble. As this realization sets in, the crowd, still staring, slowly clears away. A street vendor stares as some of the most powerful beings in the world approach him, some flying a few feet off the ground, others towering over even the tallest man. A bead of sweat runs down his brow as the stop in front of his stand. One winged Guardian lands in front of him, looks him in the eye, and says...

"Hello! Can we have one Cheesesteak sandwich? To go, please."
He slaps a generous tip on the counter, sits down at a table, and waits.

A few minutes later, the cook sits down at his stand, and stares off into the distance. The sandwich had been delivered without incident. No supervillians had burst out of the street, no monsters had attacked the city. The Guardians had merely taken the sandwich, and teleported away. "Huh. That was odd."

We will be moving the postings over to the Group thread now. I will get up a post setting the scene in Atlantis later today, but I figured that I should get this done first. Any individual or group who wants to do something in Atlantis not related to the "main mission" of talking to Trition is free to do so, just start posting in another thread, and leave a post on the OOC telling us that you are.

[Quellian-dyrae]

One winged Guardian lands in front of him, looks him in the eye, and says...

"Hello! Can we have one Cheesesteak sandwitch? To go, please."
He slaps a generous tip on the counter, sits down at a table, and waits.

One winged Guardian lands in front of him, looks him in the eye, and says...

"Hello! Can we have eight Cheesesteak sandwiches and one hoagie? To go, please."
He slaps a generous tip on the counter, sits down at a table, and waits.

Working on the assumption there's eight of us plus Triton but Sharkguard had said he wasn't a fan of cheesesteaks I believe. If I missed the count or not everyone's actually here or whatever revise the order appropriately.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Greyhound was waiting, made invisible by his suit's thermo-optic camouflage, at a certain distance from the group of his fellow Guardians disguised as Atlanteans Guards: when they enter the building he quickly closes the distance and silently follows them inside. As soon as he's inside the actual facility, he stops to put again some distance between him and the group, then proceeds to take a look around.

Concealed from All Visual Senses. Stealth [roll0], though I certainly hope that beetween the noise made by an armoured group of people walking at talking is enough to cover (or, at least, induce the attendant to ignore) that of Greyhound's own steps regardless of the result.